Lent has begun!
As I did last year, I’m going to write a blog series called Laments for Lent, in preparation for writing a book with the same name, a follow-up to my book and website Praying with the Psalmists.
I know, it’s been a year, and the book isn’t written yet. But that gives us an opportunity to walk through the process of writing a lament. In the book, I’ll have a 40-day reading plan for the Laments and Psalms of Confession in Psalms. (Or try my 6-week reading plan for reading all the Psalms.) Each week, we’ll focus on one of the six parts of a Lament.
I made an acronym for the parts of a Lament:
A – Address to God
C – Complaint
C – Confession of Trust
E – Entreaty
S – Sureness of Help
S – Subsequent Praise
This week, let’s talk about the Address to God.
I usually focus on the straightforward ones that essentially say, “Here I am, Lord; please listen to my prayer.” Today I feel like looking at the ones that start with a question.
Psalm 10:1–
Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Psalm 13:1–
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
Psalm 22:1–
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
Here’s a bit from Praying with the Psalmists:
A common thread in all the Laments is that even in deep distress, the psalmist turns to the Lord for help. The Address to God simply says, Lord, I’m turning to you; please hear my prayer.
Even when the psalmists start with a question, at least they’re bringing their pain to God.
My plan is to write an example lament each week of Lent. Phooey, it doesn’t have to be an example. It’s a lament from my heart – and I post it to encourage others to write laments, too. (Post in the comments!)
There are a lot of things I could write a lament about. But today on my heart is the Epstein child sex trafficking ring. (I read Virginia Guiffre’s book, and it is all so horrifying.)
A Lament for Children Abused
Father, why have so many children suffered
at the hands of rich and powerful men?
How have they escaped justice
for so many years?
Mother of All, can you see the wounds
in those now-grown children’s hearts?
“Why does the evil man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
‘he won’t call me to account’?”
Lord God, thousands of children were raped,
abused, sold to others, and terrorized.
And even now the powerful people responsible
are being sheltered,
are being protected,
as if crimes against these girls don’t count
because those who are rich
can do whatever pleases them.
“But you, God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits herself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.”
God, if Abel’s blood cried out to you,
if you see a sparrow fall,
then surely you know the names of every victim
and you know every scar on their bodies and their hearts.
O Defender of the Oppressed,
may there be a great accounting.
May what was whispered in the dark
be proclaimed from the housetop.
May evil actions be fully exposed
and called to account.
May the days of harming others with impunity
come to an end.
“Break the arm of the wicked and evil man!
Call him to account for his wickedness,
that would not be found out.”
May the metaphorical arm of power coming from wicked people
be utterly shattered, Lord God Almighty.
Father, we do know their day is coming.
The rumblings have started,
the evil schemes are unraveling.
We know that ultimately justice belongs to you,
Defender of the Helpless.
And we will rejoice
when the oppressed find justice.
We will delight when victims get
to see their oppressors face judgment.
We will praise your name forever,
Avenger of the Innocent.